Our Suggested Four-Year Undergraduate Program in Comparative Development Studies
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Introduction to Development Studies (survey course)
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Microeconomics & Macroeconomics (foundations)
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Introduction to Comparative Politics
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Economic & Cultural Geography
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Modern World History (1500-present, focusing on divergence)
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Statistics & Research Methods I
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Writing/Critical Analysis seminar
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Comparative Political Economy
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Development Economics
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Economic History (Great Divergence, industrialization paths)
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Demography & Development
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Institutional Economics
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Comparative Research Methods (case studies, process tracing, QCA)
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Natural Resources & Development
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Elective: Regional focus (Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, etc.)
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Natural Law of Cooperation and Evolutionary Computation (NEW – This is our first signature course.)
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Knowledge, Information & Development (NEW – this is our second signature course)
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World-Systems Theory & Global Political Economy
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Informal Institutions & Social Capital
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Geography of Development (spatial inequality, agglomeration, infrastructure)
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State Capacity & Governance
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Development & Environment
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Comparative Field Research or Methods workshop
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Varieties of Capitalism, Democratic Socialism, and Fascism
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Development Failures & Success Stories (case-intensive)
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Epistemic Institutions & Development (NEW)
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Two advanced electives from:Urban Development & Megacities
Technology & Development Trajectories
Conflict, Fragility & Development
Religion, Culture & Economic Life
Migration & Remittances
Colonial Legacies & Path Dependence -
Senior Capstone: Comparative Development Research Project
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Senior Thesis or Practicum
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Not silo’d: Each year integrates multiple perspectives on same phenomena
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Comparative by default: Every course uses cross-national/cross-regional comparison
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Light on math: Stats/methods sufficient for research literacy, but not econ PhD prep
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Case-intensive: Heavy use of historical cases, contemporary comparisons
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Fieldwork option: Summer research or semester abroad with comparative research component
Core Theoretical Work:
Timur Kuran – “Private Truths, Public Lies” (preference falsification and how it affects institutional change) and his work on Islamic economic institutions and path dependence
James Scott – “Seeing Like a State” (how state knowledge systems shape development, often destructively) and “The Art of Not Being Governed” (stateless societies’ knowledge systems)
Michael Polanyi – “Personal Knowledge” and “The Tacit Dimension” (complements Hayek on tacit knowledge)
Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson – Beyond “Why Nations Fail,” see their newer work on information and propaganda in “The Narrow Corridor”
Nathan Nunn – Empirical work on trust, culture, and development (complements Fukuyama empirically)
Alberto Alesina & collaborators – Work on cultural transmission, trust, and institutions
Specific Epistemic/Knowledge Focus:
Philip Tetlock – “Expert Political Judgment” and “Superforecasting” (quality of political/economic forecasting and institutional design)
Donald MacKenzie – “An Engine, Not a Camera” (how economic models shape markets – performativity of economic knowledge)
Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky – Heuristics and biases literature (how systematic errors affect economic decisions)
Paul Seabright – “The Company of Strangers” (evolution of cooperation and trust in market societies)
Avner Greif – “Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy” (cultural beliefs, informal institutions, and merchant coalitions)
Joel Mokyr – “A Culture of Growth” (Enlightenment knowledge systems enabled Industrial Revolution) and “The Gifts of Athena” (useful knowledge and economic growth)
Robin Hanson – Work on prediction markets and information aggregation mechanisms
Alvin Roth – Market design and matching markets (how information architecture affects market function)
On Information Quality & Development:
Yuen Yuen Ang – “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap” (adaptive governance and information feedback loops)
Lant Pritchett & collaborators – Work on “isomorphic mimicry” (governments that look developed but lack real capability – form without function)
Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett, Michael Woolcock – “Building State Capability” (problem-driven iterative adaptation – learning systems in development)
Epistemic Communities & Policy:
Peter Haas – “Epistemic communities” literature in international relations
Sheila Jasanoff – “States of Knowledge” and work on co-production of science and social order
Recent/Emerging:
Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber – “The Enigma of Reason” (argumentative theory of reasoning – implications for institutional design)
Jennifer London – Work on information intermediaries in development
The “credibility revolution” literature in development economics (Banerjee, Duflo, et al.) – though note the critique that RCTs can be epistemically limiting
Tyler Cowen & collaborators – Work on cultural/informational factors in development (his blog also surfaces interesting work)
Would you want me to develop either the curriculum in more detail (specific syllabi, readings, capstone structures) or create an annotated reading list on the epistemic dimensions? I’m particularly curious about your “informational capital (truth and falsehoods)” work – that seems like fertile ground for a unique contribution to development studies.
Source date (UTC): 2026-02-16 19:31:40 UTC
Original post: https://x.com/i/articles/2023480414908916020
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